In announcing the fellows elected in 2009, the academy wrote that Poor has distinguished himself as a "world-leading engineering researcher and educator in signal processing, wireless communications and related fields."

"His fundamental advances in robust statistical signal processing, multi-user detection and non-standard signal processing have underpinned research in these fields for decades," the academy wrote. "His award-winning writings, innovative courses and legendary mentoring have brought these fields alive to a generation of research specialists and students, while his research contributions have been instrumental in advancing industrial development."

The Royal Academy of Engineering was established in 1976 and has since grown to more than 1,300 fellows and 62 staff members. This year the academy elected four honorary fellows, 38 fellows and three international fellows.

Poor, who in addition to his role as dean serves as the Michael Henry Strater University Professor of Electrical Engineering, earned his doctorate from Princeton in 1977. After receiving his Ph.D., he served as a faculty member at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign until joining the Princeton faculty in 1990. He was named dean of Princeton engineering in 2006. He has held visiting appointments at a number of universities and research institutions in the United States and abroad, including recently Imperial College London, and Stanford and Harvard universities.

Poor is also a member of National Academy of Engineering, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a former Guggenheim fellow.

As part of his appointment to the Royal Academy, Poor was invited to attend the New Fellows Briefing in November in London.